


Between Blue Velvet and Cold Steel

by monsterkiss



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-13
Updated: 2013-10-13
Packaged: 2017-12-29 08:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1002932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monsterkiss/pseuds/monsterkiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aigis finds herself in strange and confusing company, but if you are going to attempt the impossible and defy death herself then perhaps odd travelling companions are to be expected. Still, she wishes Elizabeth wasn't quite so... enthusiastic about seemingly everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Blue Velvet and Cold Steel

Aigis had been prepared for Elizabeth to act a little… eccentric, but she still cringed as the train doors opened and the former elevator attendant practically sprang through them. “Good day, fellow travellers! Myself and Aigis-san here will be accompanying you on this ‘train’ today. I sincerely hope that all of you find what you are looking for on your journeys-”

A push from one of the commuters behind them mercifully cut off her speech and Aigis took her arm as firmly as she could without outright dragging her and led her to a pair of empty seats by a table. She was not at all used to feeling embarrassed or self-conscious, but travelling with Elizabeth was proving to be a fast education. She was grateful that they’d missed the morning rush, at least.

She was currently pressed against the window, cooing over the board announcing arrivals and departures at the station. “How does it know the times and locations of journeys to places it has never even seen? And how do they presume to know the exact time that the trains will arrive? Does the machine posses some kind of prophetic ability? Human technology is so fascinating!” A few rows ahead of them she could see a businessman frowning at them, and to their right a small and rather sticky child was pointing in spite of its mother’s attempts to distract it.

“Elizabeth-san, do you intend to remain in this world once our mission has been completed?” Aigis spoke at a considerably lower volume in the hope that her companion would catch on.

A false hope. “I really hadn’t given it much thought.” Elizabeth frowned, adjusting her hat slightly. “I do find this place very wondrous, and I have many happy memories on your side. With all the strange oddities to learn about and people to converse with, I doubt I will ever get tired of it.”

Aigis had to agree on that point, at least. Elizabeth’s curiosity seemed insatiable. The train suddenly jolted, then began to slide away from the platform. Elizabeth squeaked and leaned over to wave at the people still waiting, and she found herself joining her, caught up for a moment in her enthusiasm. A group of teenagers waved back before slipping out of view. To them, the two must have looked about their age.

“What about you, Aigis-san?” Elizabeth asked, sitting back down. “Will you remain here, among these humans, for the rest of your existence?”

“Yes.” She’d meant to ask what other options were available, but the answer came too fast, almost instinctual. “It is my purpose to aid them as a machine, and even though I do not have to do so and can choose how I live the life given to me…” she struggled to articulate the feelings that even now she didn’t fully understand, “I… _want_ to. I want to be useful, and to make a difference for others. I want…”

Her voice trailed off, and Elizabeth patted her hand. “It is difficult, isn’t it? To deviate from the strict purposes of your creation, even if it’s only inside your own thoughts.”

The train ran down the tracks at a good speed, Aigis’s automated balancing software soon compensating for the rattling and occasional lurch. Elizabeth seemed to be faring a little worse, turning even paler than her default colour and sighing with relief at every stop, only to moan irritably when they started up again. After almost two hours she stood up and declared that she was going to search for some refreshments, and perhaps a pharmacy if the train was equipped with one.

Aigis nodded and watched her go, prepping her auditory sensors so that she might respond at the first sign of trouble. She felt a pang of sympathy as the girl weaved unsteadily down the aisle, gripping onto the tops of chairs and the occasional passenger to steady herself.

Mitsuru had offered all the resources of the Kirijo group to aid them, despite neither her nor Aigis really understanding exactly what their mission would entail. Elizabeth had insisted against it, however. Apparently a journey such as theirs must be undertaken without any outside interference or shortcuts, though Elizabeth’s bottomless purse did not, apparently, count. To Aigis, who liked definite goals and targets, it was beyond frustrating.

“Sorry for intruding, but are you two sisters?” The woman with the sticky child smiled across at her. The child was now dozing with its head adhered to the window.

“No, just… friends.”

“Oh, I’d thought you might be related. You look a little alike. Are you foreigners?”

The question struck Aigis as strange. She’d never really thought about herself as Japanese or any kind of nationality, and she had no idea how Elizabeth could be classified. When she was younger, she’d simply thought of all humans as simply that: humans, but the longer she lived among them the more labels and identities there seemed to be. Would she have to learn how to navigate them all?

The woman’s query required a response, she realised. “Yes, I suppose we are.”

She nodded. “I thought so. Especially with your friend being so peculiar.” She stopped, apparently embarrassed. “Your Japanese is very good, though. You must have both studied very hard for your trip.”

“Thank you.”

The woman turned back to her child, dabbing at it with a damp cloth, and Aigis closed her eyes and lay back. She couldn’t really nap, but shutting out everything save the rattling of the train and the hushed murmur of human communication was pleasantly calming.

After a while Elizabeth’s wobbly footsteps returned, and she felt her squeeze past and back into her seat.

“I was going to get you a sweet pastry, but I wasn’t sure if you ate. So instead I brought these delightful napkins, and this cute little stick, with which one may safely distribute the contents of hot beverages without fear of harm!”

Aigis opened her eyes to observe the neat pile of tissues (thirty-two in total, her processors promptly informed her) and the single used coffee stirrer. On Elizabeth’s side of the table were four hot drinks of various kinds and a small mountain of foodstuffs. She regretted having her eyes closed; seeing her carry all of that without apparently spilling anything would have been quite educational.

“That was very kind of you. I do not often receive gifts of any kind, except for upgrades to my chassis.”

Elizabeth beamed. She appeared to have recovered somewhat. She had evidently already devoured one item from her hoard, and was fiddling idly with the wrapper. “I am so glad you elected to join me on this journey. It would have been far less interesting to have gone alone. And far more perilous as well.”

“Yes,” Aigis agreed, smiling back.

“I am sure that now that we are working together our quest will be successful,” she said, and Aigis felt her smile fade a little.

Mitsuru had taken her to one side, just before she left, and told her that although she had the greatest faith in her, she must not blame herself if their goal proved to be impossible. She’d had similar speeches from Yukari and, surprisingly, Junpei. She knew they only wanted to keep her from getting her hopes up and spiralling into guilt and grief all over again in the event of failure, but she could also see the longing reflected in their eyes. She knew that if Elizabeth hadn’t insisted that Aigis was the only suitable candidate then they all would have dropped their current concerns and projects and joined them. It wasn’t that they hadn’t moved on with their lives, it was simply that they were still, at heart, a team, willing to go through anything for each other.

She thumbed the sleeve of her new jacket, plain and brown with cute pink buttons. “That trench coat makes you look like a cop or something,” Shinjiro had explained, handing it to her, “take something a little less conspicuous.” Akihiko had offered to drill her in hand-to-hand combat, in case she needed to fight without revealing her true nature. Fuuka had done a thorough examination of her body, fine-tuned and fixed everything from her combat software to the slight chip on her right leg. Even Koromaru, not fully understanding but sensing that she was going to leave for something important, had whined piteously until she bent down to let him lick her face.

She _had_ to succeed. Even if it was impossible, she had to find a way. Change the variables, change the problem. She was no longer a machine with one purpose, who could only fight and fight until she fell.

And she was not alone.

“I think,” she said, startling Elizabeth out of her reverie with the sweet wrapper, “when I see her again, the first thing I will tell her about will be how we got trapped at the ticket barrier.”

Elizabeth smiled. “She’d find that very amusing. Did I ever tell you how I got stuck in the labyrinthine jungle gym on one of the excursions to your world she took me on?” She leaned in, as if imparting a great secret, all pure enthusiasm at the idea of sharing her experiences.

In her hands she cradled a tiny wrapper butterfly, whose wings shivered and glinted with every breathy word.


End file.
